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Dustin Hoffman and John Oliver Argue Back and Forth Over Sexual Harassment Claim Against Hoffman: See the Video

Dec 5, 2017  •  Post A Comment

“In a striking and raw demonstration of the angst that has accumulated over Hollywood’s sexual harassment scandals, HBO host John Oliver sparred with Dustin Hoffman during an awkward 45-minute Q&A intended as a prologue to a 20th-anniversary screening of the film ‘Wag the Dog,’” reports Dade Hayes at Deadline.com.

Hayes writes that Oliver and Hoffman “engaged in an anguished back and forth centering on the actor’s deeds and the response to his response to the allegations. ‘You’ve made one statement in print,’ Oliver said. ‘Does that feel like enough to you?’ Hoffman replied, ‘First of all, it didn’t happen, the way [the alleged victim] reported.’”

As TVWeek previously reported, Anna Graham Hunter says Hoffman sexually harassed her when she was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV movie “Death of a Salesman.”

Hoffman told Olivier, according to the Deadline story, that “his apology over the incident, offered, he said, at the insistence of his reps, was widely misconstrued ‘at the click of a button.’ But the ‘Last Week Tonight’  host seized on the portion of the actor’s public apology, in which Hoffman said the events that happened on set didn’t reflect who he is as a person.

“‘It’s that part of the response to this stuff that pisses me off,’ Oliver said. ‘It is reflective of who you were. You’ve given no evidence to show that it didn’t happen. There was a period of time when you were a creeper around women. It feels like a cop-out to say, “Well, this isn’t me.” Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?’

“Hoffman shot back, ‘You weren’t there.’ Oliver responded, ‘I’m glad,’ drawing gasps from the well-heeled audience….”

To read more details about this item, please click here, which will take you to Hayes’ story.

Here’s the video of a portion of Oliver-Hoffman confrontation, which was posted on YouTube by the Washington Post:

One Comment

  1. Mr Oliver isn’t stupid. He knows that the burden of proof is always on those who make assertions/allegations. It’s why our judicial system (supposedly) operates on the principle of innocent until proven guilty.

    Yes, an HBO Q&A isn’t a court room, but reasonable and logical discussion (regardless of where it occurs) recognizes you can’t prove a negative and in conjunction with it that assertions/allegations can’t simply be accepted as evidence.

    Even in the court of public opinion.

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